It’s Research – Honest :) And a giveaway!

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Dale Mayer

Update – Berinn is the winner of the giveaway!

And actually it is! But on my twisting path through the Internet doing justifiable research for my books, I’ve come across some incredibly useful and interesting sites. Sure there are also those that seem to be great time wasters – like www.stumbleupon.com. And boy can I spend hours there! Don’t get me started on the recipe or travel sections. And the cats and dogs would put a smile on anyone’s face.

No I mean sites that I had no idea where out there – and maybe I didn’t really want to know either. There are the child predators all mapped out so you can check your neighborhood (shudder) and the crime scene photos that you can view from countries with so little in the way of laws that there is nothing sacrosanct anymore! But there are sites that I found fascinating from another perspective.

Sites like this one – RSO EDIS Emergency and Disaster Information Service. Below is a screen shot of the world map taken last night.

Each of the symbols represents a disaster in progress. That can be an earthquake, typhoon, big fires…I hate to say it, but there are a lot of symbols. For example, the red triangles are epidemic hazards. The yellow triangle with a bird is a biological hazard. The red circles on the West Coast are forest fires. The circles up and down the gulf from Florida south are typhoons and storm warnings. And it goes on…

However, it’s fascinating to think that all this information is there in such a graphic way in real time! With a click of a button you can see what’s happening all over the globe.

Another site with in-depth earthquake information – past and present, is from the US government site on the latest earthquake news. This site gives each earthquake, when it happened, where it was centered and the magnitude of each – and that’s just for starters.

The yellow squares on the map are interactive – well on the website they are. LOL.

So you see, research time, isn’t all bad! ;)  And although I have several books that deal with natural disasters, that doesn’t mean all my research is of this ilk. There are also wonderful sites for walks down memory lane. One is this site on old vintage recipes – http://www.vintagerecipes.net/. Of special fun is the link on the right hand side of the website at the bottom on Etiquette! It’s well worth a peek…and a laugh. :)

What places on the Internet have you visited that you found surprisingly useful, interesting and yet totally unrelated to what you were originally doing? I’ll be giving away a copy of either Hide’n Go Seek or Touched by Death to one commenter! Their choice!

 

About Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer writes romantic suspense, with or without paranormal elements like TUESDAY'S CHILD (2011) and now young adult books in various genres like DANGEROUS DESIGNS (2011). Writing stabilizes her in a life gone wild! The other stabilizers? Cheesecake and her four cats! Of course, she's dreaming to think she'll get a piece cheesecake once her four kids find out she's been baking!
This entry was posted in Dale's Posts and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

18 Responses to It’s Research – Honest :) And a giveaway!

  1. Edie Ramer says:
    August 24, 2012 at 8:23 am

    I always find interesting information in your posts. Almost every day since you mentioned the FreeRice.com word matches, I’ve been playing it. I’m giving away a lot of grains of rice to people who need it, and I’m up to level 46. Plus, it feels virtuous to waste time this way. :)

  2. Berinn says:
    August 24, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Ooh, those links will come in handy. I laughed when I read through some of the etiquette tips (I’m so glad the world’s gotten more casual!).

  3. Misty Evans says:
    August 24, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Your research posts are always fun, Dale!

  4. Liz Kreger says:
    August 24, 2012 at 10:15 am

    That map of disasters is fascinating … and disturbing. Looks like the world is falling apart. :shock:

    Can’t really help you with interesting sites, Dale. I try to avoid getting sucked into the internet beyond what I’m initially researching. Even with that, I can get lost in the information I’m trying to locate.

  5. Cynthia Eden says:
    August 24, 2012 at 12:18 pm

    Dang it, according to your research–my area is in the path for a disaster! ;(
    Cynthia Eden`s last blog was …If I Were You (Giveaway!)

  6. Lori Brighton says:
    August 24, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    Those are super interesting and super scary! lol.
    I think Google maps is great! We were looking up a hotel where we’re going to stay in Ireland next year, trying to decide if we wanted to stay an extra day. We were able to actually stroll down the nearest town! And we decided not to stay the extra day. lol. Seriously, the town had nothing. But its amazing to me that you can see the world so well.

    • Dale Mayer says:
      August 24, 2012 at 4:53 pm

      Hi Lori,

      I love google maps! I considered selling my house this year and spent hours checking out other locations using google maps. It shows closest schools, shopping centers, places to walk even. It was fascinating!

  7. bn100 says:
    August 24, 2012 at 10:26 pm

    Looking for travel tips is useful.

  8. Janet Kerr says:
    August 24, 2012 at 10:48 pm

    I found the paintings at the Louvre in Paris just by chance.
    & one of our prints by Rembrantd was there!
    Jan

    janet_kerr@msn.com

  9. CateS says:
    August 25, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    I’ll hang out at NASA and the Library of Congress and just noodle around for interesting stuff… Good golly, it’s a good thing I’m retired..or I’d almost feel bad about my wasting time just looking around the world!

Comments are closed.